Magical Girl Sakura
by HalcyonHermit
Summary: Sakura never wanted an extraordinary life, all she wanted was to be a normal girl. Destiny had a hand in deciding otherwise. Fighting against the Darkness overpowering the Light, she keeps the balance between the two in the living world that is the battlefield. Used to fighting alone, allies are at hand...if only they'll arrive in time. America/Fem!Japan Ger/Fem!Can, FACE Family
1. Chapter 1

Hetalia: Axis Powers is entirely the creation and work of Hidekaz Himaruya.

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"PB and J in the house!"

Sakura Honda sat in amongst her friends just far enough away from the boys to exclude themselves from the silly antics and rough games they played, but still close enough spy on them with stolen glances and sudden moments of finding her lunch that much more interesting after being caught staring or admiring them. A nudge told her that she'd been caught admiring one Alfred F. Jones even if he was wholly oblivious to the fact.

"Sakura and Alfred sitting in a tree..." Gillian sang next to her.

Blushing furiously and wondering just what the punishment would be for attacking her obnoxious friend with chopsticks, she instead took out her irritation on the fried shrimp of her lunch.

"Keseses."

Gillian Beilschmidt, self professed most Awesome student at the school, carried on humming the taunting childish teasing song all the while tearing open her lunch box looking to have leftovers for lunch. Madeline like her brother before her was brown bagging it though, instead of the PB and J that had the boy so pleased, Sakura knew just which of their parents had packed her lunch by all the neat little containers. Felicia had of course pasta, though this time it was freshly made from their Home Ec class and the girl was in absolute heaven, though it was hard to tell with her for how dreamy she always looked.

"Maddie, trade you a Wurst for just one of those." Gillian offered, holding up one of her three sausages.

Sakura saw her best friend biting her bottom lip in complete indecision, the quiet sister of Alfred not one to be able to say no and Gillian surely knew it. At random one of the little containers was taken and passed off for the sausage that would likely become a treat for Kumajiro once school was finished for the day.

"Score! Crepes!" Gillian cheered.

The container was snatched back and replaced with another, the polite girl holding her Papa's variation on her beloved Pancakes close to her chest and daring Gillian to try for them.

"Bacon and cheese croissant! Score!" Gillian laughed, greedily biting into the pastry with obvious bliss.

Breathing a sigh of relief and getting back to her own lunch, she couldn't help but look off after Alfred as he laughed and joked with his own group of friends that consisted of Ludwig, Lovino, and Yao, their respective siblings. Transfers the lot of them, fate seemed to play a hand with how they bumped into each other though Sakura knew better. Destiny was a weighty burden that forced people together to fulfill their roles.

"S, Sakura san...your phone is ringing." Madeline stuttered.

"Eh? Nani?" Sakura replied as she was torn free of her thoughts and admiration for the one boy.

Digging through her school bag to find her phone, the ringtone said it all, Destiny was calling and she had to answer. It was a call she couldn't take with her friends around her, there was no way she could risk Alfred 'I'm the Hero!' Jones overhearing the call. Giving her Bento to Gillian and snagging a sausage in trade, Sakura raced off to the school leaving her confused friends behind.

"Moshi Moshi!?"

"There's been a convergence."

Sakura felt her blood run cold and her heart hammer away in her breast at the word, a convergence was when ones Destiny grew too heavy for a soul to bear and they succumbed to the darkness, a moment when the balance between the light and dark opened the way for...abominations. No soul was pure, no villain too far gone to not know the depths of their sins, but a convergence was different. In that one moment of doubt a way was revealed for the abominations of the Dark Side to step into the Grey and try and undo the precious balance of the world as they knew it.

"Where?" Sakura was beyond being her usual polite self, she had Destiny pressing down on her to the point she could hardly breath.

In answer a map came up upon her phone, Fate moved with the times and the map was just the same as she used anytime she was lost or just wanted to spy on the rest of the world after a quick bit of typing in a certain search engine. Twenty minutes as the Crow Flies the Americans would say, but she could make it faster and she would, because every second wasted gave the Darkness a chance to black out the Light and tip the scale towards the Abyss.

With one last look to make sure she was alone, Sakura found the hilt in the very bottom of her school bag and drew it out, feeling the weight and heft of the broken sword. It had been a family treasure for generations, the anchor to which that red string was tied, and now it was hers. Pressing it against her breast and finding her resolve, from her unmarred flesh a new blade was drawn that was the embodiment of her soul and it shone brightly.

Shadows were sent skittering back to the dark places they called home as the light of her soul brightened the alcove she had hidden in, and in this light the empty vessel that was her body cast its own shadow. It wore the armour of her ancestors and it would protect her so long as her resolve held fast. In the flickering blink of an eye she was gone.

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The car was sent tumbling through the air by a strength fuelled by rage and anger, a scream cutting above the din of destruction as a woman struggled to run and deny the truth that she would never make it in time. She had a destiny all her own to see through, a man to meet and a daughter to love. If she were to die today all those ripples of that cast stone would never roll across the waters of the world. A flash of light and the screech of tortured metal cut in twain was her salvation as the car was cut in half, Sakura standing in its place as the two halves tumbled through the rubble before coming to a rest.

"Run!"

The woman didn't have to be told twice and for that Sakura was grateful, she had enough on her plate without worrying for the innocent bystanders she was here to save. She could see the convergence ahead, that twisted light rising into the sky full of darkness that was older than the night sky. At its climax would be the one she was here to save, the one that was a bridge between worlds, all that stood in her way were the abominations that sought to claim this new world as their own.

Never in her young life had she seen this many, where she expected but a handful there had to tens if not more. A moment of doubt would be all it would take for her armour to break and it was a moment that would be denied, a flickering of light telling of her passage to the beast that still stalked its chosen prey. Slashing cleanly down the abomination, the balance was restored and from it a shadow fell long across the pavement until it connected to the still running woman.

"One down..." Sakura managed with a choked laugh, calling on the bravado of her crush in this moment.

Too many still left. She'd never in all her time seen a convergence so strong before, never seen so many abominations claw their way out of the darkness of the souls of so many people. She couldn't afford a moments doubt, she had to be strong enough for all of them to set the Scales of the Souls right once more. Hearing a roar that rippled through the streets and shattered windows, the first chink in her armour was found as fear froze her in place.

It had to be at least three stories tall and even as she stood there she watched it draw in the shadows of the fleeing people until only a thin thread of darkness tied them to it. Small as those threads may be, the only way she could break them was to defeat the monstrous abomination before her that cast its own shadow over her own.

Never in her life had she known the kind of fear she knew now, just knowing the stakes at hand had her trembling. Her lips drew tight as tears rolled down her cheeks, staring on up at the beast that looked on her full of contempt and hatred forged from the souls of those people it had been born from. The Darkness looked down on her from beyond those eyes that held her in place, fear and panic gripping her as she struggled to keep her own shadow from being drawn into the abyssal shadow that trailed it.

"Help me!" Sakura screamed.

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Francis Bonnefoy had been doing the dishes in his kitchen when a noise drew his attention from the mundane task. It was the sound of shattering glass that set his nerves on edge, rushing off out into the hallway of his home to investigate. Fearing an intruder or worse, a glance to the front door showed it unmarred and unharmed, but the real reason for the noise was found beneath the curio that had so many pictures and souvenirs.

Bending low to pick up the picture frame that laid in shards of shattered glass, he hissed and sucked his finger that ran red. Turning over the frame to look at the picture within, his heart twisted as he looked on her visage there, his Jeanne. His blood fell over her breast now as it had then, and the portent was an ill omen for him. Laying down the battered frame with the rest and rushing to the cordless in the kitchen, his thumb dialled without needing to know the number of who he longed to reach. It rang once, twice, and just as it would have rang thrice it connected.

"Madeline?" Francis asked doing his best to keep his fear tightly in check.

"Papa?"

"Oui, how is mon petit ange? Did you enjoy the lunch I packed you?" Francis tried but couldn't still his tapping foot as he played the doting father.

"J'ai adore ce, but Papa I'm sorry, may I ask why you are calling?" Madeline asked, the connection not doing her soft voice justice as far as he was concerned.

"I cannot call my daughter to tell her I love her?" Francis tried, but ever since he first adopted the girl she had a knack for seeing right through his fibs.

"I'm fine Papa, well, not fine...we're looking for Sakura." Madeline confessed, her voice telling just how the worry tugged at her heart.

Struggling not to crush the phone as his grip tightened in terror, ever since breakfast there had been a dark mood hanging over the house that he just couldn't entirely blame on his Angleterre, his English Rose. So thorny and beautiful at the same time, he was a prickly man with a satiny soft side that completed him in a way he hadn't felt whole since his Jeanne.

A scream and static had him crying her name again and again until she finally answered in a fluster and a pouting moue that he could just picture. His little Madeline was among the many shards that filled his broken heart, just as her brother helped to fill Arthur and bring life back to his eyes. They had become a family and filled their home with love, and to anyone who disapproved of it they could simply go straight to hell for all he cared.

"Madeline?" Francis asked quietly.

"Sorry Papa, I just tripped over a...eh? Maple, it's a sword?!" Madeline replied, a hitch in her breath and her own unique curse telling of her surprise.

If she were surprised, he was terrified. Visions assaulted him of his Jeanne clad in armour and wielding a sword, visions of her in his arms as the flame of life was snuffed from her eyes. Trembling in rage and fear as he stood there, he tried to keep his calm as he sought to find the words to ask her that one important question he needed to know.

"Madeline...where are you..where are you mon petit ange?"

"Just in the field behind the school, the rest are looking everywhere else they can think of that Sakura might have gotten off to..." Madeline said though with a hint of distraction in her voice.

"Madeline, mon Madeline...for your Papa, please don't touch that sword." Francis cried as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"But it's so warm Papa..." Madeline whispered, the silence of the call telling of the ending with just an abrupt beeping.

Hurling the cordless at the wall where it shattered to join the broken glass at his feet, Francis stormed out the front door to find his once broken Resolve, forged anew in that moment out of the love of a child who reminded him of his Jeanne and tempered by an oath never to let another lady he loved die in his arms again.

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A gunshot served as the epitaph to the abominations brief existence, the shadows scattering amidst smoke as those threads grew fat and raced back to the souls that were born of both the light and the dark. Burnt black powder and smoke hung in the air as a figure out of legend and lore strode forth with flintlocks gripped tightly in hand. Sakura looked on up at him and saw how he cast no shadow, the telling truth that he had been at this a lot longer than she had. One day when her Resolve was firm enough her shadow and flesh would become one, but for now she had to place faith knowing her ancestors protected her from harm.

Yet staring on this man who somehow seemed so familiar yet completely alien, all it took for her to realize she didn't have time for such questions was the eruption of glass behind her to herald another storefront destroyed.

"Can ye stand Poppet?"

Proving she could, Sakura looked on the man who was a pirate of legend and lore if she ever knew what one was. Sparing her a wink and lighting a cannon ball that he had just relieved off his vestments, the fuse burned quickly only to vanish beneath the cast iron ball as it reached its intended target of an advancing front of abominations. Despite the wash of heat that fell over her, she kept her eyes open to see the luminous light of the explosion driving the shadows back to where they belonged, pantomiming the fleeing forms of humanity running away from the conflict.

"Do ye know how to use that thing?"

He pointed with his own sabre and just then Sakura felt the fire of her indignation burn hot at the accusation. This sword was forged of her own soul and was a symbol of he people, part of her Warrior Way. To compare it to a hastily sharpened length of inferior steel was an affront she didn't have words for. Climbing to her feet, only after the battle had been fought would she know how the light streaming from her shadowy armour had vanished and darkened even deeper.

"Do you?" Sakura asked with an edge to her words all as sharp as her sword.

A cocksure grin was all she received, the pirate levelling his flintlock over her head to fire on another abomination, thereby freeing the entwined shadows of the hapless souls that just had been too near to a convergence for their own good.

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Air Raid sirens that hadn't been used in decades reached into the collective unconscious minds of the people who found themselves staring into the sky and listening for the distant sound of bombers or the engine roar of rockets that would tell it was already too late. Teachers were crying 'Duck and Cover' to a generation that didn't know the meaning of the words.

"This is the antithesis of Awesome." Gillian grumbled from beneath her desk.

Felicia was pressed up against her brother in abject fear of the loud noise that was felt deep within their bones. Looking around, Alfred saw that two sisters were still missing, both his own and Yao's, the cute little Sakura. Ludwig was off with the teacher clearly asking just what the hell was going on and looking as if he didn't like being lied to.

"Anyone seen Maddie or Sakura?" Alfred asked in that one moment of quiet that fell between the droning waves of the Air Raid Siren.

Shaken heads were given as they all clutched their ears to the new roar that filled them full of fear and dread. It just had to be some huge kind of drill or at worst some prank that any other day he might be proud to call his own, but today he had his sister and friend missing and that was just a recipe for disaster.

Already he had a plan hatched in his head for when the next roar of the sirens came, joining those students who thought it was all some joke on them and getting back to his feet. Back at the orphanage he'd sworn to Maddie that he'd never let anything happen to her, he'd sworn that they'd always be together, and right now he wasn't about to go having himself made a liar.

"Here we go..." Alfred whispered in the quiet, his heart hammering in his ears as he readied himself for a run to the end zone just like out on the field.

The Siren came again and he answered, a Sailor lost to her song rushing past the rigging to what promised bliss but could well mean his death. Tackling Ludwig and running out into the hall, the teacher was yelling after them with all those empty threats that wouldn't mean shit in a couple more years when they graduated.

"Lets go find Sakura and Maddie!" Alfred cried.

Captain of the school football team, he was used to having to rally his team after a series of setbacks and get their morale boosted back to where it should be. Ludwig was his right hand man even if they spent as much time arguing on the field as off, the German was a terrifying sight to see barrelling down at you knowing all the protective gear you had on just meant it would hurt that much less in the morning.

It also didn't hurt that Al knew Ludwig was nursing a not so secret crush on Maddie thanks to Gillian selling him out. Oblivious sister for the win! She wasn't allowed to date until he was, so say the Dads. So visa vie as long as he wasn't dating anyone, she wasn't, and that was a Win Win situation for him and Artie as they both were concerned.

"Hey Luddy, if you were a Honour Student skipping classes, where would you be?" Al asked of his teammate, two birds one stone as both Sakura and Maddie were nerds.

"The Library?" Ludwig offered.

Alfred stared up at the intimidating German momentarily forgetting he too was an Honour Student aka Nerd right up there with Sakura and Maddie.

"Alright, lets go check out where I'd skip class and hope for the best. C'mon Luddy, lets go hit up the Downtown core for a bit of street meat." Al cheered, glad to have both A) his license and b) a car to drive (for keeping up his grades/thanks to Maddie/Sakura/ and little bit of cheating off Ludwig).

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She felt the world twist and shift at the moment she touched the hilt of the broadsword. The field stretched unto the horizon and was filled with the fragrant aromas of the harvest to come at the reaping.

"Hello Madeline."

Turning in shock and surprise, there were very few people who called her by her name, most just shortening it on down to Maddie while a lot just called her Mattie (that just left her wondering at her habit of stuttering). Standing there in a dress of golden honey with a blood red broach over her breast was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen in the whole of her short life. The smile the woman showed was that of a Saint, it was one of absolute resolve and benevolence.

"Eh?" Maddie croaked, filled with memories of being teased again and again of her Canadian heritage.

Again there was the patience in the eyes and a smile that promised the world if only you'd listen to her, that promised everything right down to victory upon the field of battle. The wind wafting through the wheat died and as she looked, Madeline saw that she was no longer in a verdant field but one that had been reaped, only the bloodied decaying dead left behind in the wake of the farmer's scythe.

"Merde!" Madeline screamed in shock, her grip upon the hilt of the sword faltering just then.

"Stand fast Child, don't lose faith because of my sins."

The sword was gripped tighter as if a life line thrown from a ship as the hungry waves lapped at her longing to drag her to the dark abyss below. The sword was all that kept her from falling beneath those waves, it was her buoy and her salvation, all she had to do was believe in it some part of her soul said.

Tender hands took her cheeks and as she stared up she found the woman looking on her full of sympathy and a sincere regret. A kiss was placed upon her bow, it was full of warmth and a mother's love. Tears fell at the admission that she didn't know her own mother's love, nor even her name, just another nameless orphan dropped off to wait out the long years until she could be someone else's problem.

"You'll never be alone my sweet Madeline, daughter of my heart, and when you see my beloved Francis again please ask him to forgive this one last guilty sin."

Madeline had the sense of falling and all those usual smells that were the back fields of the school. It was her hiding place when she didn't want to be found, just sinking below the tall grass and staring up unto the heavens. She held something tightly in her hand and just couldn't let go, knowing somehow to let go was to break an unspoken promise to people who cared for her. Then the words rang in her head that couldn't be silenced...

"Help me!"

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	2. Chapter 2

Hetalia: Axis Powers is entirely the creation and work of Hidekaz Himaruya.

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"There's just no end to them!" Arthur roared, firing off shots at another pair that sought to ambush the youngin.

"Pirate-Sama! Duck!" Sakura cried.

Hitting the deck as it were, from the corner of his eye he saw the child swing her Katana in a wide slashing arch, brick cracking and windows shattering as the will behind her attack rent the air and slew a pack that had just risen from the shadowy alleyways that littered the downtown core of their city.

This was getting them nowhere, now the abominations were even climbing out of the shadows cast by humanity's handiwork. He hadn't ever seen a convergence this bad since...no use to think about that now, no now was the time to fight. Watching just how nimble the girl was on his feet an idea quickly formed for how to get to the heart of this mess.

"Poppet!" Arthur called out, booting the nearest abomination back and lazily tossing another cannonball down its gullet.

"Pirate-Sama?" Sakura answered after she had taken care of her own foe.

"Forget about this cannon fodder, go do what ye came here to do! I'll handle these scallywags and deck rats!" Arthur bellowed over the firing of his flintlocks.

A nod and a flicker of her passage was the only answer he got and the only one he needed. With the youngin's out of the way he could let loose a little as he hadn't in years. Even still a sense of worry and dread that had been plaguing him since the morn ate away at his gut, leaving him in a bad mood ever since breakfast. The only good thing about it all was that there were plenty of volunteers lining up for him to take it out on.

"Have at ye!"

Feeling his blood rise in answer, the bloodlust of his cursed ancestors that met their end down in Davey Jones Locker or hanging from the Gallows as a crows feast, he spotted just the place he'd make his stand. Showing he was no slouch himself, in the flicker and blink of an eye he was gone. The abominations roared in reply, already on the hunt for him having forgotten the youngin'.

From his new vantage hanging from the struts and beams of the broadcast tower atop one of the taller buildings he saw them coming. Drawing his sabre once more he saluted them, the mindless brutes playing right into his hand.

"Hope the lot o' ye have yer sea legs, things are about to get rough! Hoist the Roger!" Arthur barked, laughing loudly as behind him a flag was raised up that broadcast tower bear a grin that matched his own.

This trick was taxing but he had to buy the girl time to do what had to be done, and with so many beasties littering the streets they'd never make it in time. Gritting his teeth and hissing a breath, bending his will over something so large as an entire building was something that would have been child's play back when he was still in his prime and fighting fit. Panes of glass shattered and from them cannons lined the walls of the building.

The explosion of so many guns firing at once echoed through the city for blocks, the black powder smoke casting a cloud and haze that blocked out the sky. When the wind finally cut a swath through the smoke, Arthur saw not a beastie left standing. Cracking a smile as the last of his strength left him, the visage of the Dread Pirate Kirkland vanished to leave behind a tired father of two orphans.

"Have at them Sakura, I leave the rest to you." Arthur croaked, digging in his jacket for the one little thing he and the Dread Pirate shared a liking for, a flask of rum.

Having a swig and raising it in silent toast to the girl, it was about time the new generation showed up. It didn't surprise him at all to see her out there, there was always something special about her, the same spark he'd seen years ago when he and his lover had opened their hearts up to welcome the two that turned their house into a home.

"God speed, little cherry blossom."

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The explosion startled her, windows rattling as she raced through the streets. She fought against the urge to turn back and see what had just happened, but that was be a slight to the trust Pirate-Sama had placed in her. Landing alight atop a street lamp, she looked around to see the streets empty. It didn't mean it was safe yet, no, the power of this convergence was beyond any she had seen before.

Gripping the hilt of her sword tighter and drawing strength from the memories of all those ancestors who had wielded it before her, she took a breath to steel herself for the task ahead. Flexing and readying to leap back into the sky, the sudden screech of car tires had her pause and look down the street. A car was hurtling headlong with thunder following it, the shattering of asphalt and concrete echoing through the crystalline canyon built up of so many business towers.

An abomination looking like the twisted mockery of a dog made up of blackness and brick followed after the car, yet as it neared she saw that it was not just any car but one she knew. One that had given her a lift home on rainy days when she had been walking down the streets with just her umbrella to protect her from the elements, Alfred's car.

"Baka!" Sakura spat.

She just couldn't get away from him, now here he was in danger and in need of saving himself. Twisting from her place and flexing once more, she leapt off with the speed that still astonished her as the world seemed to slow down in her flight. Gliding over top of the car, a beat up old Volkswagon convertible, she saw the steely determination in her crushes eyes that had her believe he could really be a hero. His knuckles were white on the wheel and the stick, the tachometer in the red as he coaxed all the horsepower he could out of the used car. Ludwig was beside him holding tight to whatever grips he had, his icy blue eyes caught in indecision of those instincts of Fight or Flight.

Landing behind the car and breathing in exhaust, the world resumed its normal flow, the car tearing off away from her as the lumbering brute rushed on. Gripping her sword in both hands and digging deep into the memory of her ancestors, her feet found a new stance while the hilt grew long with her grip wielding a Katana no more but now a Naginata.

The abomination charged and as her blade bit its twisted flesh, she felt the weight of the thing press down on her. Looking on it as it slobbered full of lust for the hunt, its weight was nothing compared to her own Destiny. Standing firm, she gritted her teeth and the road beneath her buckled and cracked but she did not budge one inch back. Light pierced the back of the beast and with a roar she cleaved it in twain, the darkness dispelled and the threads of shadows rushing off to their owners.

Twisting on her heel and stalking after the car that had come to a stop ahead, wielding her Naginata with one hand she slashed through the air and it fell back to being the Katana she was so used to wielding. Both Alfred and Ludwig where staring on her in a mix of shock and awe, her crush leaping out of the car to rush up to her. She had sharp words on her tongue ready to lash at him for all his stupidity, but they faltered as she was taken up in a sudden hug that caught her off guard.

"Holy shit Sakura, that was bad ass!" Alfred cheered.

"B, Baka! Let go!" Sakura sputtered, her cheeks burning in blush at the closeness of the touch.

Twice more she was spun around, each revolution showing Ludwig stepping closer until his hand gripped the enthused American to stop him. Finally released and finding her legs, Sakura caught the worry in his eyes as he looked on her.

"What are you two doing here?" Sakura asked more to Ludwig, knowing Alfred as the only person who would run against the stream of fleeing people and the sound of explosions.

"Looking for you and Maddie of course." Alfred answered.

"Madeline-chan?" Sakura asked, feeling a knot of worry for her friend.

"She went looking for you along with the rest of us. She's not answering her phone." Ludwig explained, his jaw working as he gritted his teeth.

"What the hells going on Sakura? You never told me anime was real!" Alfred asked, full of dark accusation at her keeping this from him.

Ludwig joined her as she rolled her eyes, another oath of his idiocy was on her lips when a savage roar ripped through the air louder than even the explosion before. A thunderous crash was heard, followed by another and another that eerily followed the timing of the falling of feet. The ground shook and as another crash was heard cars were seen tumbling like toys down the street ahead.

"What the..." Alfred asked, swallowing hard and unable to finish his question as a large hand gripped the nearby building some six stories high.

"Scheiße!" Ludwig swore as the head of the monstrosity looked past the building still another two stories higher.

"Run!" Sakura screamed, the only chance of retreat for her friends the car that stood between them and the towering abomination.

Racing to the car and hoping to out pace it before it took real notice of them, they came to a skittering halt as it turned the corner and crushed the old volkswagon beneath its foot. Without needing to be told, Alfred and Ludwig took her up by the arms in a hasty about face and raced on despite her indignant screams to put her down.

"The alley!" Alfred called, Ludwig following him.

"No!" Sakura cried, the fools not knowing the dangers that lurked down those shadowy valleys hidden behind storefronts and shops.

Struggling against them, from the darkness of dumpsters and hidden doorways a fresh wave of abominations clawed out of the black. Trying to find her footing, it was a hard task with the two taller boys rushing on. She didn't want to hurt either, but if she wasn't put down soon she wouldn't be able to protect them from the advancing pack.

"Put. Me. Down!" Sakura yelled.

Both boys came to a halt and let her go, yet it wasn't for the reason she hoped for as she spared a glance behind to see they were surrounded on all sides. The quarters were too cramped and with them there she couldn't just flee to the safety of the rooftops. Suddenly time seemed to slow for her, senses honed by her battles thus far picking up the fluttering of satin and silk that defied all logic. As fast as she was, seconds becoming minutes as she pushed herself into that realm between the hands of the clock, in the blink of an eye one faster than her was gliding through the air offering her a rakish, flirting smile.

First Pirate-Sama, now she found herself in the company of what could only be a Musketeer. She dared not blink, but it could not be denied, and in that one moment he was gone while in his wake all the advancing abominations roared in pain and fell. Turning sharply amidst the statues that were Alfred and Ludwig, the same fate had fallen the others that had them trapped, the way now clear.

"Mademoiselle."

Her hand was taken up for a kiss, the Musketeer now standing over her looking a dashing sight that the movies she had ever watched failed to do justice. Golden tresses fell under his hat and a long plume fluttered on the breeze as she let herself relax and time resume its normal flow.

"Where the hell did he come from! Yo bud, hands off!" Alfred bellowed, bulling his way up to snatch the hand back.

"He has no shadow." Ludwig pointed out in the moment of quiet that followed.

Glancing below even though she knew there was no way he would have one, the Musketeer laughed in a way that was so familiar to her. Her eyes widening in shock, with a flourish the man took off his hat and gave a bow, Francis Bonnefoy standing before her. She wasn't alone in being stunned to silence, the adoptive father of both Alfred and Madeline alike looking to take a bit of pleasure out of their gaping mouths.

Alfred looked to be struggling for words to ask the multitude of questions he had on his mind just then, yet as the ground shook once more they all remembered just what it was they were really running from then. At the very end of the alleyway the giant abomination loomed, looking on them with dull dark eyes. Only one looked utterly unflappable at the turn of events, Francis taking the long, elegant musket that was slung across his back and taking aim.

"Petit, are you any good at archery?" Francis asked in a melodic voice accented by his native French.

Her ancestors answered the question, her sword becoming a yumi and the light of her soul the bowstring. Taking a few steps to clear her friends, she stood next to the Musketeer and drew. Letting the arrow fly that had been forged by her will, the crack of gunpowder igniting had a tremendous light join hers to pierce the belly of the beast. The death cry of the horror shook the ground, its flesh fading under the harsh daylight as the shadows were freed of its twisted hold.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?!" Alfred shouted.

"Now be not the time for those questions, later enfant. Right now we need to find Madeline and save the poor soul trapped in that." Francis said cooly, giving a nod to the column of twisted light that could just be seen over the rooftops that loomed above them.

As in over their heads as they were, all it took was the mention of Madeline to have the boys focus on what was important to them for different reasons, a brother's love and a look Sakura had seen all too often in Ludwig's eyes when he looked on her friend, one she understood herself with the feelings she felt for Alfred.

"I'll hold you to that Franny." Al barked, following after the pair with Ludwig in tow.

"Just once, would it kill you to call me Papa like your sister?" Francis asked, even if he already knew the answer.

"Stuff it Frog." Alfred snapped back.

"Merde, such an ungrateful child, you and my dear Angleterre deserve one another." Francis quipped back with a light laugh.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

She didn't know how she had gotten here, one moment she was out in the field behind school stumbling over a sword of all things, now here she was Downtown in the eerily abandoned streets looking straight out of those zombie movies Alfred loved to be scared silly by. Gripping the hilt of the sword tighter and holding it to her chest, Madeline felt the warmth and sense of safety it offered her.

Now and again loud noises startled her, explosions or the roaring of lions or something worse. Lost as she was, the only thing that stood out was the towering light that rose out of the street ahead of her. Putting one foot after another, she kept on walking towards it and hoping to find out just what was going on. As she drew closer to the light, her shadow stretched on behind her down the path she had come. If she had thought to look, she would have noticed how it no longer mirrored her trembling, timid self.

The shadow behind her took on the silhouette of a woman she had seen out in the field and in a dream, yet instead of the dress of golden honey she had the sharp angles of armour adorning her. Even still in the ever unfurling length of one girls shadow marched an army rallied by their beautiful martyr, and behind that army stood a nation.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-

The nearer they got to the light the more of those things emerged that Sakura and Franny called Abominations. Feeling helpless in a way he never wanted to remember, he watched as the two fought the horrors that just kept coming. Time and again one would slip through the ranks, and in those moments both he and Ludwig found the will to fight with broken lengths of metal they had found from the street.

Up in that light that was littered with dark patches, he could now see the silhouette of a body hanging there, the Soul that both Sakura and Francis were trying to save. There was just one soul he wanted to save himself and he didn't have the strength for the task, helpless as he was against the horde to go off and find his sister.

"Dammit!" Alfred roared, swinging wildy at a monster that just wouldn't stay down.

He was supposed to be the Hero, he was the one that was supposed to save the day! That was the promise he'd made Madeline that first night at the orphanage, that he'd always keep her safe. That's what Big Brothers were for!

"Alfred!" Ludwig yelled.

Realizing he was battering empty asphalt, the abomination defeated at last, he looked down to his bloodied hands and let the makeshift club clatter to the street so he could clench his fists. Breathing deep, as he looked to his friend though he found he wasn't looking at his frantic actions but behind him. Following his gaze, Alfred stared in awe at what he found there, not his own familiar shadow but the silhouette of a Gunslinger from the Wild West born during America's era of Manifest Destiny.

Feeling a weight at his hips that was a welcome burden, twin holsters rested there with two gleaming revolvers shining so bright they glowed. Slipping his hands over the sandalwood grips, as he drew them he swore he had never felt anything feel so right in his life. Levelling one at Ludwig and staring beyond him, his friend's shock turned to understanding as he hit the dirt. The report of the gunshot mingled with the horrible cry of the withering beast.

"Danke." Ludwig coughed as he got to his feet.

"Hey Luddy?" Alfred asked.

"Ja?" Ludwig asked.

"Nice sword."

In the shadow cast by the German, there stood now the silhouette of a warrior of those Germanic Tribes that had fought against the Roman Empire itself. In his hand Ludwig held a Gladius, his makeshift club still laying at his feet where he'd taken cover moments before. Meeting eyes, the boys didn't have to exchange anything as paltry as words, but then again Alfred was never comfortable with such quiet moments.

"Lets go find Maddie!"

Racing off and following their hearts, the battle was joined.

-=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=–=+=-


End file.
